HTC Vive Controller (2018) & Vive Base Station

Personally I like the Wand design over the current occulus-like standard so I dont have any complaints there. Its good to see that HTC still makes these lovely abominations. However, as I bought this to replace a 2016 model wand (black), I cant help but feel like the battery life is significantly shorter than its predecesor. For example, I charged both controllers and after a day of use, the original 2016 model is sitting at a confortable 56% battery, while the 2018 model is already at 15%. I suppose its those Lighthouse 2.0 compliant receptors but frankly I have no idea. Still, the controller is perfectly usable, just remember to charge it after every session if you play for more than 3 hours daily.

No tracking issues over 60 days. Arguably the most immersive controller for beat saber, though could use a few gritty surfaces to promote grip.

The first set of controllers that were included with the Vive Pro went bad after about 3 weeks. They started by drifting then completely cutting out at the worst possible times. I measured, adjusted, upgraded and fixed everything...including the 200 Windows required reboots. Then I stumbled on a site indicating how to disassemble the controllers. The issue was the connector inside the controller. I fixed the first one and completely jacked up the second controller, bumping a ribbon cable that has no chance of returning to the right spot so it wont power on now. $200 down the toilet. So, I bought 2 of these for the $400 price tag. That was 6 days ago. No bumps, hits, accidental damage, just Expert and Expert + play going fast for long hours (and soreness)...and today they are drifting. I stand still and the start flying away. Recalibrated, fixed, rebooted 22.5 times, upgraded (tried, no upgrade availabe) and no fix. At this point, Im looking at paying $400 every 3 weeks to use the the Vive...love Beat Saber (my new daily obsession), loved Alyx, Pistol Whip...and dont want to go back to the Oculus. Unless youre sponsored or made of money, stay away...invest in oil futures and lose money the smart way.

Good but not as good as stick controllers like oculus or index knuckles. Price is also steep just for one controller. Grip controllers are so stiff that pressing them you have to press un so hard

My 12 year old son wanted to take the risk on a used item because of the cost savings to his birthday money. The product arrived without a charging cable but that was not a deal breaker because we have the old one from his old controller that broke. But the product would not hold a charge. No LED light came on to show that it was charging and even a direct to pc attempt was made and it was not recognized. Now I have written the company Boca and are awaiting a response. It has only been two days so I am holding off complaining till we hear from them. I just keep getting email requests to rate my shopping experience. I will update this after we hear from the company and either do a return or exchange to hopefully save my sons birthday wish for a working controller for his beloved VR system.

Great tracking, less battery life than previous version.

I hate the touchpad part of these. It is either too sensitive, some games youll spin around if your thumbs accidently touch them when you are going to another button; or Harder presses on them act a directional buttons, but here is the thing; they are round. What that causes, is if the input your are trying for is forward (for example) and you are not perfectly centered on the top of the button (you are in VR and not looking at them) and your thumb presses a little to the side too, then you are pushing diagonally, and not moving to selecting what you want. If you are a gamer; you will hate these. They are too unforgiving in the precision they need in the heat of playing a game. They will frustrate you if you use them for gaming. I moved from a Quest 2 to these and I wish I could just use my Quest 2 controllers instead of these. And speaking of that, two of these cost as much as the ENTIRE Quest 2 headset which comes with controllers. Use my buyers regret to purchase the ones that I wish I had purchased instead; the Valve Index Controllers. Every review I have read (after I made the mistake of getting these) says the Valve Index Controllers are far superior to these. If you are reading this, you took are doing more due diligence then I did. Use me as a cautionary tail to not make this purchase. Other points against these. I purchased knuckle straps for my Quest 2 controllers, so you dont accidently drop them or throw them. I figured I could find something like that for these. Nope. There are going to be times when you have to pick something up in the real world while you are in VR. These have straps that you can connect to your wrist, but now you have these expensive and delicate controllers swinging from your wrists and banging into everything. The Valve Index Controllers have integrated knuckle straps. They are not ergonomically at all. I am not sure that the designers of the Vive Controllers have ever seen a human hand before. They feel so fragile, you can tell the plastic in these are thin. My fear is getting to close to the edge of my play area and hitting a wall or a desk, and pulling of my headset to see one of my controllers in broken in two. There is no left or right controller. The first two weeks of using these, I was contently having to look down at my hands in VR and seeing that my controllers were in the wrong hands. I could not figure out why the one I left on the right side of the desk was now registered as the left one. After a while I realized the first one you turn on becomes the RIGHT controller. I think battery life in these is horrible. You can only check the battery level in the Steam VR Home, it shows green dots to indicate current battery level. As soon as you start VR and get settled in to play something you already see on green dot is off. You cannot check how much charge they have unless you are in VR. I end up charging these every time I use them, because I have to. I am sure the life-cycle of that (non-replaceable) battery is going to suffer because they have to be charged to 100% any time you want to use them. My replaceable rechargeable batteries in my Quest 2 controllers last well over a week at time between chargings. These are new but still have micro-USB ports to charge them. Micro-USB has a life cycle too, only so many times can they be plugged in and out before they fail; I cannot believe they didnt improve these to USB-C that has a much better life cycle (10,000+ cycles).

Works better than the original version for sure. No complaints thus far. Loving the blue color too.

The first controller I purchased works like a charm. But the second I purchased I was sent an open box version that keeps glitching and freezing constantly (Returned it.).

If Im paying $200 for a controller I expect it to actually work. How did this make it out of testing? Do you just package defective controllers and expect people to just live with it? Inexcusable design flaw for something thats costs this much. For $200 i expect minimal quality assurance. I got a replacement controller. It has the exact same issue. The other controller doesnt. Im starting to think I just got lucky when I got a working one. Dont buy 2 of these. Buy index controllers instead. Youll save $100 and theyre a million times better.